Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to an optical fiber connector and method for terminating a jacketed optical fiber cable in the field. In particular, the exemplary connector includes a backbone that retains a collar body within an outer housing, wherein the backbone includes at least one guide channel to facilitate wrapping strength members of an optical fiber cable around a rear portion of the backbone and a cable jacket clamping portion to clamp a cable jacket that surrounds a portion of the optical fiber.
Related Art
Mechanical optical fiber connectors for the telecommunications industry are known. For example, LC, ST, FC, and SC optical connectors are widely used. However, commercially available optical fiber connectors are not well suited for field installations. Typically, an adhesive is required to mount these types of connectors on to an optical fiber. This process can be awkward and time consuming to perform in the field. Also post-assembly polishing requires that the craftsman have a higher degree skill.
Also known are hybrid optical fiber splice connectors, as described in JP Patent No. 3445479, JP Application No. 2004-210251 (WO 2006/019516) and JP Application No. 2004-210357 (WO 2006/019515). However, these hybrid splice connectors are not compatible with standard connector formats and require significant piecewise assembly of the connector in the field. The handling and orientation of multiple small pieces of the connector can result in incorrect connector assembly that may either result in decreased performance or increase the chance of damaging the fiber.
More recently, U.S. Pat. No. 7,369,738 describes an optical fiber connector that includes a pre-polished fiber stub disposed in ferrule that is spliced to a field fiber with a mechanical splice. Such a connector, called a 3M™ No Polish Connector (also referred to as an NPC, is now commercially available through 3M Company (St. Paul, Minn.).